To say it鈥檚 been an exceptional couple of years for 新加坡六合彩开奖直播 chemist Axel Becke would be an understatement.
In 2014, he became the first Canadian to receive the premier award in the field of theoretical chemistry from the . Then, last year, he received Canada鈥檚 top chemistry and chemical engineering award (), was inducted into the Discovery Centre-hosted and 鈥斅爌erhaps most notably 鈥斅�, an esteemed career achievement award presented by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
Now, Dr. Becke is adding another of Canada鈥檚 most prestigious scholarly honours to that list: .
On Monday morning, the announced Dr. Becke as the 2016 recipient of the Killam Prize in the Natural Sciences. The $100,000 award is funded through the Killam Trusts and recognizes outstanding career achievement in scholarship and research.
鈥淭his is a significant honour and great recognition for Dr. Becke鈥檚 incredible achievements throughout his career,鈥� says Martha Crago, vice-president research at 新加坡六合彩开奖直播.
Dr. Becke, whose research has transformed computational chemistry and physics, is only the third 新加坡六合彩开奖直播 faculty member to receive a Killam Prize since the awards were created in 1981. Biology鈥檚 Brian Hall (2005) and Philosophy鈥檚 Susan Sherwin (2006) are past recipients.
As with NSERC鈥檚 Herzberg Medal, Dr. Becke says part of what makes the Killam Prize special is that it comes from an organization that鈥檚 been a long-time funder of his research. Support from the Killam Trusts helped bring Dr. Becke to 新加坡六合彩开奖直播 鈥斅爐wice. He came to Dal in 1981 with a Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship, and in 2006 he returned to campus to serve as the Killam Chair in Computational Science until 2015. He also received a two-year Canada Council Killam Research Fellowship in 2005.
鈥淭he Killam Trusts have been incredibly important to me throughout my career,鈥� says Dr. Becke. 鈥淚鈥檝e been a member of the Killam family of scholars since 1981. So this Killam Prize is very special.鈥�
Small-scale research, big results
Dr. Becke鈥檚 research has focused almost exclusively on expanding the accuracy and applicability of what鈥檚 known as 鈥渄ensity-functional theory鈥� (DFT): a faster, more intuitive method of calculating the properties of chemical systems and materials than older non-DFT methods. What was once an outsider theory is now used in more than 80 per cent of quantum chemical computations 鈥� thanks in large part to Dr. Becke鈥檚 work.
Because of DFT鈥檚 wide range of applications, Dr. Becke has become one of the most cited scientists on the planet. He has two papers on 狈补迟耻谤别鈥�s 2014 list of the top 100 most-cited scientific articles of all time 鈥� both in the top 25, and one of them in the top 10. These days he averages about 10,000 new citations a year, with his rolling total currently at more than 110,000.
At a time when large-scale scientific research is generating considerable national and international attention 鈥斅爁rom for his work at the Sudbury Neutrino Laboratory, to the February 2016 announcement of the discovery of gravitational waves 鈥斅燚r. Becke鈥檚 research stands out for its relatively small scale and independence. On about half of his publications, including both of his papers on Nature鈥檚 Top 100 list, Dr. Becke is the sole author. Most of his work is done with pen-and-paper, then writing computer programs to implement and test his ideas. He has nowhere near the massive equipment or infrastructure requirements of those recent headline-generating discoveries. And yet, the influence of his research has been vast, spanning multiple disciplines.
鈥淚鈥檓 very proud of my work and the impact it鈥檚 had,鈥� says Dr. Becke. 鈥淏ig science is great, but it鈥檚 important to remember that smaller-scale, low-budget science also has its place 鈥斅爐hat breakthroughs often arise from the creative thinking of independent researchers, and that all applications are driven by fundamental theory.鈥�
Looking forward
Dr. Becke technically retired on July 1 last year 鈥斅燼lthough you wouldn鈥檛 know it from how busy he is.
鈥淪cientists never retire,鈥� he says with a laugh. 鈥淭hey may step down from teaching and committee work, but they never retire from science. It always intrigues and drives you. As long as you鈥檙e able to, you鈥檙e experimenting.鈥�
What intrigues Dr. Becke at the moment is an area of research he never expected to find himself in: the study of excited states, the interaction between matter and light. 鈥淢any other researchers have used DFT in excited-state calculations, but it鈥檚 something I鈥檝e never engaged in myself,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 a hot subject, and I鈥檝e got some ideas I鈥檓 now trying out.鈥�
At the same time, he鈥檚 continuing his more traditional DFT work on ground states (the basic equilibrium structures and properties of materials). He says he鈥檚 in a unique position compared to most scientists, in that his career鈥檚 work has a logical endpoint: when DFT has been expanded to the point where all types of chemical interactions, from the weakest to the strongest, can be computed. 聽
鈥淚鈥檝e thought this through for 35 years, and I honestly think I鈥檓 at the stage where I鈥檓 wrapping up,鈥� he explains. 鈥淲hen I started in the early 1980s, we couldn鈥檛 even calculate the energies of molecular bonds 鈥� the simplest of chemical concepts! But we鈥檝e solved problem after problem, from bond energies to reaction energies in general, and the weakest interactions in chemistry 鈥� van der Waals or dispersion interactions.
鈥淲e鈥檙e now working on something called the strong correlation problem 鈥� the last frontier. Our density functionals can now cover pretty much all interactions in chemistry, biology, surface science and materials science.鈥�
That鈥檚 important, says Dr. Becke, because it鈥檚 the potential of DFT in developing聽 revolutionary complex materials that may offer the most exciting applications of his work. And while it won鈥檛 be him doing that work 鈥斅燚r. Becke is a theoretician, through and through 鈥斅爋thers, like Dal鈥檚 Josef Zwanziger and the new Herzberg-Becke Chair Erin Johnson, are moving DFT forward in materials science.
In the more immediate future, Dr. Becke heads to Ottawa for the Killam Prize ceremony at Rideau Hall on May 3 鈥斅爃is second visit to the Governor General鈥檚 residence in as many years, following last year鈥檚 NSERC Top Researchers ceremony where he received his Herzberg Gold Medal. He鈥檚 also taping an interview for CBC Radio鈥檚 鈥淚deas鈥� program with Paul Kennedy that will air in the coming months.
Finally, every Killam Prize winner is obliged to present a public lecture at a Killam institution 鈥� of which 新加坡六合彩开奖直播 is one. Dr. Becke says he expects to deliver his lecture on campus sometime this fall.聽
More on Dr. Becke
- Dal Magazine feature: (Spring 2015)
- Dal News: (February 2015)
- Dal News: (November 2013)